JPH0155489B2 - - Google Patents

Abstract

Transmission shift control guide and detent apparatus includes a mechanism for defining the shift path for any given gear change, and for providing detenting both for ratio selection and for engagement of the selected gear set. A guide plate defines a predetermined track. A pin associated with the transmission shift lever is movable along this track to establish a precise definition of the path for each selecting and engaging movement. The plate also defines a plurality of depressions which form a detent map. A spring-loaded ball is moved over this map by the action of the transmission shift lever. This develops predetermined resistive forces against which the shift lever must be moved during the selecting and engaging movements. Stresses are absorbed in the guide plate rather than in the shift rail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention generally relates to a transmission device for an automobile. More particularly, the present invention provides a sliding gear incorporating a switching control guide and a restraining device to accurately define the gear switching path and to create a restraining force when moving in the lateral and longitudinal planes. This invention relates to a gear set engagement device for a manual transmission.

In recent years, many improvements have been made in the control of automotive transmissions, including improvements in switching sliding gear transmissions. Some transmissions include multiple shift rails, one of which is selected and moved to engage at a desired speed ratio. Other transmission devices are
It included a single shift rail that was rotated to select a speed ratio and moved longitudinally to engage for the selected speed ratio. Such transmissions generally provided some closure mechanism to prevent meshing for speed ratios other than one selected speed ratio. This interlocking retention mechanism was susceptible to binding.

Furthermore, some transmissions included guide devices for guiding the longitudinal movement of the rails. Other transmissions included restraints that indicated the longitudinal position of the rails. Such restraints generally provided some resistance to longitudinal movement of the rail, thereby giving the motor vehicle operator a certain feel associated with the movement of the rail due to gear engagement.
These guide and restraint devices generally required complex machined parts that were expensive to manufacture.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide lateral selection movements of switching assemblies within manual transmissions to inhibit binding during selection and engagement movements to prevent binding of the linkage and to provide the desired feel to the operator. There is a desire to provide a simple and inexpensive means of accurately determining both the longitudinal interlocking movement and the longitudinal interlocking movement.

The primary objective of the present invention is to meet the aforementioned needs. For this purpose, a switching control device is provided which can be integrated, for example, in a sliding gear manual transmission with five synchronous forward speed ratios and one reverse speed ratio. This control device is designed to accurately determine the path for a particular gear change and in the transverse plane for gear ratio selection and in the longitudinal plane for meshing the selected gear set. Contains a simple and inexpensive mechanism for deterrence.

The guide plate forms a groove that creates a predetermined trajectory. A pin associated with the transmission shift lever can move along this trajectory to precisely define the path for each selection and engagement movement.

The guide plate also defines a plurality of recesses forming a restraint map. A spring-loaded ball is moved over this map by the action of a transmission shift lever. This movement creates a certain resistance force that requires the shift lever to move back during selection and engagement movements. As a result, driver feel can be set individually for each selection and engagement movement. Stresses are absorbed in the guide plate rather than in the shift rail, and the tendency for the associated linkages to become jammed is prevented.

One implementation of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which only one specific embodiment is shown.

Although the invention can be embodied in a variety of configurations, one preferred embodiment will be illustrated and described in detail. The description is illustrative of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to this specific example.

Referring in detail to the accompanying drawings, there is shown a multi-speed sliding gear manual transmission 10 adapted for use in an automobile or the like. Transmission device 10 includes a transmission housing 12 . As is customary for such transmissions (and therefore not shown),
There are input and output shafts and a plurality of gear sets that can be selectively meshed to establish a plurality of speed ratios for transmitting torque between these shafts.

For purposes of illustration, assume that transmission 10 produces five forward speed ratios and one reverse speed ratio. In this example, a single shift rail 14 is connected to the housing 1
2 for laterally rotating and longitudinally sliding movement along axis A. When the shift rail 14 rotates to one position, the first or second
A forward speed ratio of 1 is selected, a third or fourth forward speed ratio is selected when the motor rotates to another position, and a fifth forward or reverse speed ratio is selected when the motor rotates to another position. As the shift rail 14 slides longitudinally, it engages the gears at the selected speed ratio. A transmission having this type of selection and meshing characteristics is described in US patent application Ser. No. 968,058, filed December 11, 1978.

A crank arm in the form of a biased shift lever member 16 is connected to the shift rail 1 by a suitable pin 18 or the like.
4 for rotation and longitudinal movement therewith. Lever 16 preferably has a partially cylindrical surface 20 centered on axis A. A pin or other suitable element 22 is attached to the surface 2.
It protrudes outward from 0. Lever 16 also has a socket 24 and a hole 26. A deterrent ball or other suitable element 28 projects from the hole 26 and is loaded by a suitable deterrent spring 30.

Shift rod 32 has a ball 34 received in socket 24 of lever 16. The shift rod 32 is
It is supported by the housing 12 in a conventional manner for rotation in a transverse plane about its axis B and for rotation in a longitudinal plane about its axis C. When the shift rod 32 rotates in the lateral direction, the lever 16 is caused to move laterally in an arc from side to side about the axis A. This movement of lever 16 causes shift rail 14 to rotate about axis A. Similarly, when the shift rod 32 rotates in the longitudinal direction, the lever 16 and the shift rail 14 are aligned along the axis A.
Slide it back and forth in the length direction. Suitable means in the form of a centering spring or the like may be used to create a force that biases the shift rod 32 to a centered neutral position.

A guide plate member 36, which may be formed of metal powder, is secured to the housing 12 by press springs or other means. The guide plate 36 has a surface 38 that is slightly spaced from the surface 20 of the lever 16. surface 3
Preferably, 8 has a partially cylindrical shape centered on the axis A. Guide plate 36 defines a groove or track 40 in surface 38 . Pin 2 of lever 16
2 extends into the track 40, the pins and the track together forming a network for guiding the movement of the lever 16. As a result, this network precisely defines the movement of the shift rod 32. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, the exact path followed by shift rod 32 for all gear changes is predetermined by the relationship between pin 22 and track 40.

Guide plate 36 also includes a plurality of restraint recesses 42-58. The recesses form a deterrent map on the surface 38. These recesses are arranged to engage the balls 28 to maintain the pin 22 within the track 40 and provide a restraining force to resist movement of the pin 22 from one position to another. This resistance is felt by the driver when the driver operates the shift rod 32.

One important advantage of the present invention is that it allows the operator to individually predetermine the feel of each movement of shift rod 32 in both the selection and engagement directions. This can be done by varying the depth of the recesses 42-58. For example, assume that the guide-restraint device is in the position shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. Ball 28 is within recess 42. Furthermore, assuming the transmission is to be changed from neutral to a first speed ratio, shift rod 32 is operated to move pin 22 upwardly and to the right as shown in FIG. When the pin 22 is moved like this, the ball 28
is moved out of recess 42 into recess 44 and out and then into recess 46. The depth of each of these recesses determines the force required to perform this switching action. It is clear that the resistance to movement of the ball 28 out of a shallow recess is less than the resistance to movement out of a deep recess. Therefore,
The various forces felt by the driver can be individually predetermined for each selection and engagement movement.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the recesses 42-58 can have varying bevel angles to predetermine the forces required for respective movements in the selection and engagement directions. For example, the recesses 42 and 44 are such that the ball 28 is in the recess 4.
They cooperate to form a groove so that there is virtually no resistance to the movement out of the two and into the recess 44. Therefore, it is relatively easy for the shift rod 32 to move from a central neutral position to a neutral position related to the first and second speed ratios. The ball 28 comes out of the recess 42 and enters the recess 5.
A steep slope angle 43 can be formed in the recess 42 so that the resistance to movement into the recess 42 is relatively large. Therefore, the neutral position shift rod 3 related to the fifth forward speed ratio and reverse speed ratio from the central neutral position
2 is relatively difficult to move. recess 5
The slope angle 55 formed for 4 is such that the ball 28 is in the recess 5
4 and into the recess 42 with relatively little resistance. The various bevel angles for each recess can be individually configured to preset the deterrent force against individual selection and engagement movements of lever 16 and shift rod 32.

In addition to the above, the forces developed by the shift rod centering spring and, if any, during the gear meshing movement of the synchronizer need to be taken into account when calculating the desired restraining force.

A modified structure is shown in FIG. 6, in which a plurality of restraint devices 60, 62, etc.
It protrudes into the orbit 40 of. The restraining device is arranged so that the pin 22 contacts when the lever 16 moves. The placement of the restraint device determines the force that resists movement of the pin 22. For example, more force is required to rotate the pin 22 counterclockwise against the force of the restraint device 60 back to the centered neutral position.

A simple and inexpensive means of guiding and inhibiting the switching control of the transmission is therefore provided in this case. One movable member and one fixed member form a pin-groove network for precise movement of the shift rod. Stresses caused by operating the shift rod are absorbed by this network, thereby relieving the stresses that would otherwise be placed on the shift rail and its associated shift fork selection and motion devices. Furthermore, a spring-loaded restraint ball is associated with a map formed by a plurality of restraint recesses. The depth and/or slope angle of each recess can be varied to individually predetermine the deterrent force resisting each movement in the lateral and longitudinal planes.

It is clear that the shift control guide and restraint system can be used in other transmissions than the single rail, five forward, one reverse sliding gear manual transmission described above by way of example.

In the present invention, since the device for selectively engaging gears is configured as described above, even when used in a transmission device having many gear engagement positions, any gear can be surely engaged. Moreover, it is possible to reliably hold it in such an engaged position.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall relationship of the components forming the shift rod, shift lever, shift rail, and guide-restraint device, and FIG.
a cross-sectional view cut along two lines and omitting certain structures for clarity to show additional details of the guiding restraint;
Fig. 3 is a plan view of a plate forming a guide track-deterrent map for the device, Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modified example of the deterrence map, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the plate forming the guide track-deterrent map for the device. 5
FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of another variant of the guide-restraint device; FIG. 12...Housing, 14...Shift rail, 16
...Shift lever, 32...Shift rod, 36...Plate member, 38...Cylindrical surface.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A device for selectively engaging a plurality of gear sets of a manual transmission, comprising: a shift rail rotatable about an axis and slidable along the axis; comprising a shift rail fixed to a rail and a shift rod connected to the shift lever, the shift rod being movable to a plurality of positions within one plane so as to rotate the shift lever and the shift rail; In the device movable to a plurality of positions in another plane for sliding the shift lever and the shift rail, the fixed plate member having a partially cylindrical shaped surface about the axis; a plate member defining a track and a plurality of partially spherical recesses spaced from the track in said surface; a pin projecting from said shift lever to engage said track; and a plate member defining said shift rod. a spring-loaded ball projecting from said shift lever to individually engage said recess when moved, such that said pin and track define a path of movement of said shift rod in said plane; constructed and arranged such that said balls and recesses generate individually predetermined deterrent forces resisting movement of said shift rod to a selected one of said positions; A device characterized by: 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the depth of each recess is individually selected, thereby predetermining each of said deterrent forces. 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slope angle of each recess is selected individually, thereby predetermining each of said deterrent forces. 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the depth and slope angle of each recess are selected individually, thereby predetermining each of said deterrent forces.